1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device film carrier system (or TAB), and more particularly to a film carrier structure capable of simplifying the electrical characteristic test of a semiconductor integrated circuit device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a film carrier system, a semiconductor integrated circuit device (chip) is mounted on a film carrier (TAB tape). A group of terminals for effecting the electrical characteristic test are provided for each chip on the film carrier and inner leads bonded on the bonding pad of the chip are connected to the group of terminals. Sprocket holes are formed in both sides of the film carrier and used for tape feed in the automatic bonding operation.
The electrical characteristic tests such as the function checking test and current conducting test for detecting the initial defects called Burn-In are effected with respect to the semiconductor integrated circuit device mounted on the film carrier. The Burn-In in the semiconductor integrated circuit device film carrier system is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,380,805, 4,386,389 and the like, for example.
The electrical characteristic test in this type of semiconductor integrated circuit device is generally effected in the following methods (A) and (B).
(A) First, the film carrier is wound around a cylindrical fixed portion provided in a Burn-In tester. Next, a probe connected to the Burn-In tester is brought into contact with the group of terminals for effecting the electrical characteristic test of each semiconductor integrated circuit device to supply electrical signals such as a clock signal and a power source voltage. Then, the Burn-In is effected by operating the semiconductor integrated circuit device with the thermal load applied thereto. At this time, since the length of the film carrier wound around the cylindrical fixed portion of the Burn-In tester is limited, the film carrier is cut apart depending on the scale of the Burn-In tester. After the Burn-In, the cut-apart film carriers are connected together and wound around a film carrier reel. Probes of a probe card connected to an IC tester are then brought into contact with the group of terminals for the electrical characteristic test provided on each semiconductor integrated circuit device to supply a power source voltage and electrical signals so as to separately and sequentially effect the tests for the functions of the semiconductor integrated circuit devices.
(B) The film carrier is cut apart for respective semiconductor integrated circuit devices and the divided film carrier type semiconductor integrated circuit devices are attached to a system carrier. The system carrier is inserted into the socket of the Burn-In board and set into the Burn-In tester, and electrical signals such as a clock signal and a power source voltage are supplied from the Burn-In tester via the test board. Then, the Burn-In is effected by operating the semiconductor integrated circuit device with the thermal load applied thereto. The Burn-In method is preferable to cope with an increased the number of terminals which is required for a semiconductor integrated circuit device using the film carrier. After this, an electrical signal for testing is supplied from the IC tester to the semiconductor integrated circuit device via the test board (or performance board) to effect the function test.
However, in the test method as described in (A), since it is necessary to separately supply an electrical signal for testing from the Burn-In tester to the semiconductor integrated circuit device, the Burn-In tester may be made complicated in construction and the size of the Burn-In tester may be increased since the film fixing portion of the Burn-In tester is cylindrical. Further, in the process of a function checking test after the Burn-In, the cut-apart film carriers must be connected together, and therefore the operation for the test becomes complicated and the efficiency is lowered. If the probes of the probe card are mis-aligned with respect to the group of terminals for the electrical characteristic test, the test cannot be effected, so that re-tests must be effected several times, making time for the test unnecessarily longer. Further, since the function checking tests are separately effected for the respective semiconductor integrated circuit devices, the efficiency is lowered.
In the case of the test method (B), since it is necessary to cut apart a plurality of semiconductor integrated circuit devices mounted on the long film carrier and insert and fix the individual semiconductor integrated circuit device in the socket of the Burn-In board, the treatment thereof is complicated and time for the Burn-In becomes long. Further, the system carrier is necessary. Even though the semiconductor integrated circuit devices subjected to the Burn-In by use of the method (B) are mounted on the film carrier, they are subjected to the test after being divided into individual sections. Therefore, the film carrier type semiconductor integrated circuit device cannot be easily automated.
As described above, with the conventional film carrier structure, since the respective semiconductor integrated circuit devices are separately operated at the time of electrical characteristic test, the efficiency of the electrical characteristic test is low and the test time becomes long.